Guidance Counseling on the French Education System at Lyc

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Guidance Counseling on the French Education
System at Lycée Rochambeau
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French Guidance Counseling is there

• To LISTEN to students /their parents
• To INFORM them
• To ADVISE them
• With one major goal to help our students
  formulate and set up a professional career plan
  consistent with their profile and allowing them
  to be financially independent adults, motivated
  by their job.

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My tools

• Individualized interviews upon request with
  students/their parents. Contact
  ferey_at_rochambeau.org
• Regular communication with their homeroom teacher
  (Professeur principal)
• Folders by area of expertise available for
  consultation at the Guidance Office
• References and magazines to borrow
• Lycée Rochambeau website, orientation section
  (www.rochambeau.org)
• Depending on availability, meeting with
  professionals to illustrate possible career
  paths.

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The Students role

• A key role Everything will be done for them but
  NOTHING can be done without them !
• The student is strongly invited to
• Get informed by
• ? Meeting with the French Guidance Counselor
• ? Reading the documents suggested
• ? Talking about their project with their family,
  relationships, teachers
• Actively attend the events proposed by the French
  Guidance Counseling department and invite their
  parents to participate when these events are open
  to them. A schedule will soon be posted on the
  website. You can already note that the Guidance
  Week will take place at the end of January, 2007

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To conclude

• The Guidance Counseling service is completely
  integrated to the curriculum at Lycée Rochambeau.
• It contributes to helping the students build the
  following skills
• Capacity to self-assess themselves
• Capacity to detect what motivates them
• And as a result to decide what is good, risky,
  irrelevant for them.

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ANNEXES

• 1. A chart introducing the French Higher
  Education System
• 2. The Bachelor-Master-PhD reform
• 3. A wide variety of training opportunities
• 4. What are a Classe Préparatoire (CGPE) and a
  Grande École?
• 5. the CGPEs, a French specificity worth
  exploring

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Annex 1 General scheme
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Annex 2 the LMD reform

• A new organization of studies has been
  implemented throughout the European Union under
  the Bologna Process (1999), following an
  Anglo-American scheme it is known in France as
  the LMD reform. In France it concerns both
  universities and Grandes Écoles (see Annex 4).
• ? L means Licence (Bachelor). It is obtained at
  Bac 3 years
• ? M means Master. It is obtained at Bac 5 years
• ? D means Doctorat (PhD). It is obtained at Bac
  8 years (at least)
• The curriculum is now organized by semesters,
  with modules equivalent to credits ( ECTS
  European Credit Transfer System). 1 semester
  30 ECT.
• L 180 ECT/ M 120 ECT / D 180 ECT.
• Context Harmonization of Higher Education
  systems curricula at a European level and
  cooperation in terms of quality standards of
  diplomas.
• Main Results
• ? Credits transferable from one university to the
  other, thus contributing to encourage European
  and International mobility for students, teachers
  and researchers.
• ? Standardized levels and an emphasis on
  internationally recognized quality standards
  enabling a better marketability of European and
  French diplomas on the international job market.

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Annex 3 A wide variety of training
opportunities in France

• Offering multiple objectives, admissibility
  criteria and studies organization fitting all
  kinds of students profiles and projects, at a
  competitive cost
• Curricula putting strong emphasis on
  International marketability, both in Universities
  and Grandes Écoles (exchanges with foreign
  universities, double diplomas)
• A system often presented as bipolar
  universities (would train future researchers) vs
  Grandes École (would train professionals as
  engineers, managers..) BUT
• ? Universities offer high quality standards
  curricula (Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering,
  Mathematics..)
• ? University graduates can enter Grandes Écoles
  through specific admission process and Grandes
  Écoles students can study specific subjects at
  universities through partnerships agreements.
• ? Grandes Écoles can deliver Ph.Ds.

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4. What are a Classe Préparatoire (CGPE) and a
Grande École ?

• At the end of high school (Lycée), students with
  the baccalauréat (the French school-leaving
  diploma) have two choices for their higher
  education. They may go to university (French
  universities have an open admission system) or
  they may apply for admission to a preparatory
  class (CGPE) where they prepare over two years
  for the competitive examination (concours) for
  admission to one of the Grandes Écoles
  (specialist academic institutions). This
  application is in itself already very selective
  a full application contains grades over the 3
  previous years, test results and sometimes
  teachers recommendations and a cover letter from
  the student. Only the best students are accepted
  in a preparatory class.
• Preparatory classes have no equivalent in any
  other educational system. During these two years,
  the intensity and variety of the subjects
  studied, the amount of knowledge and skills to be
  mastered, as well as the rhythm of examinations
  demand a high level of self-discipline, maturity
  and speed-capacity of learning from the students.
  As the preparatory class is focused on success in
  the competitive examination (which comprises
  written and oral skills examinations), the
  grading is very severe.
• Two years of preparatory class are fully
  acknowledged as university level education.
  Students who fail the competitive examination
  into a Grande École may continue their studies at
  university, entering directly into the 3rd year.
• Source Michel Raimbault, Associate Dean, HEC
  Paris, 2006

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Annex 5 The CPGE, a French specificity worth
exploring

• Continuity with the education received at Lycée
  Rochambeau located in Lycées the CGPEs aim at
  training adults able to think by themselves, be
  synthetic and present strong organizational
  skills through
• ? A very solid organization of classes including
  strong emphasis on preparing oral examinations,
  and studying methods
• ? Committed and highly qualified teachers,
  generally in charge of one class only
• ? Solidarity between students
• Variety several kinds of CGPEs ( 3 major fields
  with sub categories Science, Literature,
  Economics management)